Give Me A Sign
by Nihata
Summary: 6 years after the war. Harry is missing. Hermione is desperate to find their friend is neglecting her children, Ron steps in and convinces his wife and his sister to move on. Meanwhile a doctor is trying to figure out her mysterious patient and get him home.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"I swear to God this new patient is driving me insane!" Henry exclaimed motioning to the window. The other Doctors peered through blinds seeing a dark haired young male sitting in the windowsill breathing onto the window before doodling odd shapes that would slowly disappear only to start the process over once more.

"I don't see the problem…" Lysa said.

"That's exactly my point, nothing seems to be wrong with him yet he refuses to participate in any of my attempts to get him to communicate" Henry continued.

"Perhaps we ought to assign the case to another doctor" the elder man said. "Dr Hendersson!" "I am not saying you are incapable of doing your job Henry rather that you are unable to connect to the patient. I am assigning you to Miss Robertson instead and we'll let Lysa give it a go, agreed?"

"Yes Dr Hendersson" Henry said, secretly glad he got away with an easier case.

Lysa glared at her fellow Doctor but softened her eyes when she peeked at her newly assigned case; still doodling on the window as if nothing else mattered. He gave her his patients file and left her, Dr Hendersson in tow.

Would she be able to do what her Senior couldn't?

Her blue eyes narrowed. She would give it her best shot. As she moved to open his door her eyes caught the nameplate on the door;

Patient; Name Unknown.

Her hand was on the door handle still as a chill went down her back. It was unusual for a patient not to be known to the modern system, he must have been born somewhere, right?

She breathed in deeply and forced herself to open the door and step in.

The dark haired male couldn't have been older than 23 she thought and made a mental note to read his file later. He continued doodling as if unaware of her presence.

"Hello"

No reaction, no response, nothing that told her that he knew she was in the room with him.

Slowly she moved to the windowsill and took a seat there. 'Take it slow Lysa' she told herself. They sat in silence for a while; she would observe his movements, when his face would get closer to the window and softly breathe to create condensation for him to draw into. His left hand in his lap, his right hand reaching up to the window; it seemed to her that he was drawing random things, nothing specific, no pattern, just random.

Lysa decided to try; she blew on her side of the window, her left hand reaching up to draw a house, her house, to be more precise, she loved that place always had, until… until.

Suddenly a hand moved to her picture, interfering her doodling.

The hand drew flames and then formed a fist and made her house disappear.

Tears made it to her eyes; in shock she turned to face the intruder to her personal memories. Deep Forest green eyes met hers in silence. His face expressed an emotion she couldn't name.

'How did he?' she asked herself and then another odd thing happened, he grabbed her right arm turned it over and pulled up her sleeve, his fingers trailed the inside of her arm making her shiver. His brow creased over as if he had been expecting to find something there. She carefully pulled away her arm from his grip and pulled her sleeve back down.

He gave her an apologetic look; his eyes took on a sad turn many shades of greens swirled around his iris. "It's ok" she assured him surprising herself. Patients were not allowed to touch doctors under any circumstances, but the young man had not been violent in any way. Actually it seemed to her as if he was just looking for conformation on something…

Again he looked out of the window, and she took this opportunity to quickly flick through his file.

Surely there must be a name there that she could call him by?

She scanned through Henry's scribble but couldn't make any sense of it, how dreadful could ones handwriting be? She asked herself.

There was no name.

There was however a mention of the patients' needs to reveal the doctors right arm during every visit, followed by many question marks. Lysa saved that 'important detail', knowing that if she would voluntary do this gesture he might get more comfortable around her.

"My name is Dr Lysa Brown, I have taken your case from Dr Henry Sullivan and will be working with you from now on" she carefully explained. The young man did not respond. Is this what Henry had meant by driving him crazy? Sure it annoyed her slightly that he wasn't acknowledging her but then again he had, he had gotten involved in her drawing, he had touched her.

Surely that meant something?

If only the picture hadn't been messed with in that way, he had destroyed it after drawing curvy lines that had looked like flames to her before wiping it away, exactly what had happened to her house, it had caught fire and burned down completely there had been nothing left to salvage or to build up from.

Her patient could not have known that, it was just coincidence she would repeatedly tell herself. But she knew; coincidences did not exist and she shivered once more.

Slowly she moved away from the window sill and took a seat in a chair, opening the file once more she started to read from the beginning.

The patient was brought into the House of Caring Hands just last month, she noted that Henry had actually been the third Doctor that had been assigned to him like the others they described the patients was untreatable but harmless. She peered over the file and had to agree. The way he sat there in his own little world was harmless. It worried her that he had not responded to anything the Doctors had tried. Several times there was the side note of 'arm-bearing' but he wouldn't get involved in anything, no games, no painting just nothing. She realised that what had happened with here earlier was a first! A reaction followed by action. He had responded to her drawing and had continued it.

She smiled wryly 10 minutes in a room with a patient and she already managed to do more than the three, THREE! Attending doctors before her, the only thing she had to do know was to get him to do it again. But how?

Lysa looked at her patient once more, still looking outside. Outside… outside! That was it! She closed the file with a snap that didn't make him jump. Lysa would have to get permission, but she felt she was on a good lead here. She swiftly got up and took her seat on the window sill once more.

"Would you like to go outside?" she asked him.

He didn't turn to look at her, didn't respond, didn't nod but what he did do and she had to prevent herself from gasping, he cried, a tear quickly followed by a second and a third travelled down his cheek only to gather at his chin to then fall down and splatter on his arm.

"Ok, tomorrow morning it is then" she told him softly, touched by the unexpected emotion.

Lysa decided that this session was over, she had many stacks of paperwork to go through if she wanted this to happen, truly feeling that she couldn't disappoint him, she quietly left his room and closed the door with a click.

She darted to the office of Dr Hendersson.

Who looked up at her in surprise at seeing her face, she quickly told him of her session and with raised eyebrows he said "Off course! This is great progress! I will sign the form right now!" he told her. The unnamed patient had responded, it had taken three doctors but the fourth seemed to do the trick.

Dr Hendersson shook his head. "I had been afraid we wouldn't be able to help him at all" he told her truthfully. "Does he have a name?" Lysa asked him. "He has the name the doctor will call him, but that is not what you meant, no we do not know his actual name, they have not yet found out who he is or where he came from" "How did he get here?" she asked him "From a different facility who were not specialised enough to handle his case"

That confirmed it then, he had been moved from place to place seen god knows how many different doctors, would she turn out just another doctor? She doubted it; Lysa did like her challenges… although this one would prove to be particularly difficult.

Dr Hendersson told her that he had faith she would be the one to crack the hard nut that was the Unknown. She gave her Superior a sad smile and replied that she would do her best. "I have no doubt you will" he said and wished her a good night.

Lysa left work that night, leaving her patient still sitting in the window sill as she went.

She looked up at him and gave him a wave.

He did not respond.

She hadn't expected him to, but she couldn't see from where she was standing that he actually had responded, she had just been too far away to see it.

He was smiling.

.

"Hermione!" a red head called loudly "Hermione?"

"In here!" the brunette called back she stifled back a yawn whilst making another note, one of many spread out across the table. There had to be something, some sign she'd missed, anything. "You need rest" he told her. "We need to find Harry" she reminded him. "He will understand your need to sleep" she turned around as if on fire. "Will he? He is out there Ronald! Waiting for us!" she unwillingly started to cry.

"It's been 6 years!" she sobbed.

"Hermione please, think of Rose and Hugo they need you. They need their mother" Ron told her softly. The war had been over for 6 years, they had married had kids and never stopped looking for their friend. Ginny his sister and fiancée of Harry Potter grieved to this day but found happiness with her brother's kids and looked after them when Hermione was away researching.

Ron had nearly quit his job as an Auror but Hermione forced him to continue his work there. "Just in case they find a trail of Harry" she told him. He wanted nothing more than to return to work for his brothers and spend time with his wife and kids. He didn't, couldn't admit it to his wife but Ron had started to move on.

He had accepted that Harry was quite possibly gone from this world. It pained him to think so but his kids needed him now, Harry would understand. Hermione however didn't every minute she didn't spend time looking for clues she would get upset and would cry that she was a failure.

Rose was getting to that age where she would ask for her mother's whereabouts, Hugo who was younger had just now started to call Ginny his mum, she would correct the child and tell him she was his aunt and his mum was merely away working. Hugo found it more and more difficult to believe as he never saw his 'mum' and just continued calling her by that title.

Ginny had flooed Ron in tears. "I can't do this; you have to get her to come back"

And that's why the Red head had come here, in search for his missing wife.

"Take a little holiday and spend some time with Rose and Hugo? Please?" he asked her, her brown eyes filled with tears looked into his desperate blue ones and she broke down.

"Oh god!" she cried "What am I doing? My children! My babies!" she wept into her hands as her husband held her tight.

With difficulty she managed to separate herself from the table that held so many years of her life.

But as she arrived home Rose happily cried out to her "Mummy!" and Hugo with a confused look on his face slowly came forward and awkwardly stood at his daddy's side. Thumb in mouth he looked up at the lady that he only faintly recognized but when she looked up to face him. There was something about her eyes that spoke to him.

And he knew, this was his mum, before he had a chance to give her a hug the woman grabbed him and pulled him into the warmest and wettest cuddle he had ever had.

The Weasley's enjoyed their first group hug since the birth of Hugo, it had been long overdue…

And Ron wished it could stay just like this.

They would let Harry fade into memory, in peace which he undoubtedly now had.

Ginny would move on too, someday.

Neville liked her a lot; he would make a great husband for her he knew. Yes everything would be well.

They could be happy again.

He would make it so.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As Lysa returned to her humble apartment she couldn't help but wonder if she should have told her Superior everything that had happened that night. Yes she had kept information from him, the likes of which would have possible made her too personal to the patient. Again she had completed her circle of thought and had returned to the most important question; how did he know?

He couldn't have possibly been responsible for it; he would have been in his young teens. That off course didn't mean anything nowadays but still she felt confident that he wasn't violent. He was a lost soul.

A lost soul…

Lysa undressed and stepped into her bath. Contemplating on today's events and what tomorrow would bring.

.

The morning came, bright and sunny, clear blue skies and a climbing temperature that would reach the mid-twenties by the afternoon. Lysa held her hand above her eyes to view the window where her patient still was. She got the feeling he never left his spot.

And coming in that feeling was confirmed; he had been there since she left.

Lysa sighed and went to knock the door before slowly opening it.

He didn't turn to see who it was, just continued staring out of the window.

She approached him carefully, took her seat in the window and pulled her sleeve up to reveal her right arm. At the sound of fabric rustling he turned and let his fingers travel over her skin, once more making her skin crawl. His eyes still held a confused look, as if he hadn't found what he was looking for.

"Today seems to be a nice day to go out" Lysa tilted her head to the window and stood up. "But you need to freshen up first, ok?" He started at her as if he didn't understand. "Shower first. Then outside" she stated. His eyes widened slightly but it was enough for her to notice. Was he surprised?

"Come on" she told him gently.

Lysa moved away from him and gathered some clean clothes. When she turned to look at him again, he was gone.

What?

She scanned to room, nothing.

Then the sound of water splashing, and relief washed over her. He had simply gone to get a shower like she had asked him to. Ten minutes passed by before the water was turned off. A hand stuck through the door, smiling Lysa passed him his clothes.

Eventually he stepped out, and stood there, waiting.

She opened to door to his room, motioning him to go first. He moved to the door and looked from left to right as if afraid to cross the threshold. Realising he wasn't going to move Lysa stepped pas him and stuck out her hand. "It's ok" she told him gently.

He didn't grasp her hand but stepped out of his room and when nothing happened he seemed to be relieved. What had he expected that would happen? She wondered. That he was going to be struck by lightning?

He looked up at her his amazing green eyes swirled and she could just about detect the tiniest bit of excitement in their depts.

She gave him an encouraging smile and took the lead all the while checking if he was following her.

When they finally reached the front door he halted one again.

"It's ok" she told him again. He needed reassurance a lot of it she noticed. He wouldn't step outside of the building. She frowned slightly, and wondered…

Once more she bared her arm to the young man. "It's ok" she told him firmly.

And he took a step and another and another until he stood outside in the sun shielding his eyes from the overpowering brightness. The wind played with his hair, and he smiled a true smile. He closed his eyes and raised his arms as if soaking up the light.

And then she heard the most amazing sound.

Laughing

He was laughing! He sounded so happy and so relieved that it broke her heart forcing her to swallow several times to keep the tears away. He turned and looked actually looked at her as if seeing her for the very first time.

"Thank you" he told her graciously.

Lysa felt that the amount of gratitude that was soaked up in those two words couldn't compare to any other thank you she had ever received in her life, ever.

But before she could say anything, her patient had sunk to the grass and was gone.

It took her several seconds to figure out he had actually collapsed and lost consciousness and when she did she immediately called for help.

Dr Hendersson and Henry called her in to the office soon after he had been safely returned to his room. Dr Hendersson gave her a grave look. "Maybe we took it a step to far" he said "He was not ready" Henry agreed. "I beg to differ" she said. "But my patient was laughing and even thanked me for taking him outside" she told them proudly.

"That is impossible" Henry said

"No it is not" she said "The patient looked at me, fully aware of my presence and thanked me"

Dr Hendersson cleared his throat. "Very well Lysa, he shall remain your patient, he will be your only patient for a while. Today has proven that there is life in that boy yet and you can pull it out of him" he announced. Lysa gave him a firm nod.

"Yes Dr Hendersson, thank you"

Henry glared at her.

"I want to stay involved in his case" he said. "I'm fine on my own" she told him. "Henry this is no longer your case, you have been assigned several patients, please focus on them" Dr Hendersson told him. "I can't believe this" he said shaking his head and stepped out of the office.

"What's his problem?" Lysa asked.

"Henry was the one that said he couldn't handle the case in the first place…"

"I fear he just didn't expect you to do better than himself" Dr Hendersson said.

"That's ridiculous" she told him.

"Is it?" he asked her.

.

"Ginny?" he waited for the red head to acknowledge him, when she did he opened his mouth to voice the question that had been on his lips for several years. "Would you do me the honour of going out with me?" Neville waited nervously, they had been friends forever but was she ready to move on?

She gave him a brilliant smile. "Yes Neville, I would like that very much"

Ron was right. Harry would have wanted them to go on with their lives. She had distanced herself from the only lifeline she had of Harry's; her engagement ring. She had copied a Muggle tradition of sending messages to heaven using a balloon.

The balloon had been white, and it had held an envelope with a goodbye letter and her ring. She had held it tightly, kissed it and released it soon after. Hermione holding her hand all the while.

Together they saw it fly away, drifting on the wind.

That night she had taken one more step forward and she and Neville went out for the first of many dinners.

Hermione had calmed down a lot, seeing Ginny go on with her life gave her a reason to do the same. Her children had returned to the number 1 position in her life, Ron obviously sharing that position. He managed to convince her to quit being an Auror and had returned to working with his brothers in their shop.

It had been doing extremely well and there was lots of work to be done.

Yes everything was starting to turn out the way he had imagined it. His sister had agreed to start seeing Neville and his wife Hermione had agreed to stick around home for a while to be with the kids. Himself not forgotten, he smiled a bright smile to his brothers and the customers. Yes life would be well again.

Harry would be proud.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I hate not being in control" a man said. "You shouldn't worry, de medication will keep him under, and actually the meds are doing too well, considering he's been useless to us ever since he got here…"they both rolled their eyes. "The trouble we went through to locate him and get him transferred here only to find him unresponsive!" a younger man exclaimed. "Those stupid Muggle's!" the same man continued."The-Boy-Who-Lived is a useless mess. Whoever thought that we would see the day?" he said with a wry smile.

"Useless mess aside we still need him" the elder of the two said. The younger glared out of the window where Lysa was just walking down the pathway towards her car. "She's not one of us" he bit out. "No she is not; however she is the only one so far to get Potter to respond to anything, do not make me remind you of your failure"

"I do not need to be reminded" the younger man hissed.

His skin started to bubble. As if it was emphasizing his anger.

The elder man grabbed two flasks from his desk. "Cheers" he said and both downed a couple of glugs of the awful smelling and even worse tasting liquid.

.

The next day Lysa took her patient out once more this time it was much easier and he followed her outside without even hesitating. As they sat in the grass, Lysa was chatting happily and he was back to his unresponsive self.

"Don't you just love being outside?" she asked him, not really expecting an answer.

"Balloon"

"Pardon?" she turned to look at him, but his eyes were focused on something up high.

She followed his line of sight to see a tiny white balloon stuck in between the branches of a tree on the grounds. Before she realized what was happening he had stood up and was approached the tree before climbing it.

"Wait! What are you doing? Come back down right this instant! She ran after him slightly frightened, what if he were to collapse again?

She held her breath as he climbed higher and higher.

'Oh god' she thought, but let out a relieved breath as he got to the object. He cradled it close to his chest and made his way down once more. Lysa grabbed his shoulders the moment he stood on the ground. "What were you thinking?!" she asked him "That was dangerous!"

He surprised her by giving her a small smile whilst saying; "Thank you" once more.

That was the second time!

But this was different… he seemed to be thanking her for her concern which Lysa felt was an odd thing to do.

She then noticed an envelope connected to the balloon.

"What is that?"

But her patient had gone to his unresponsive self once more. Lysa felt that this was a pattern; he would be active one moment and then stop as if…, as if it had taken too much energy too? She narrowed her eyes, thinking she should really check on his meds.

Carefully she took the balloon from her patient and opened the envelope, it wasn't unusual for messages to be stuck too balloons, she had done so often enough and had even found one with a postcard from a different country before which had been taking part in a competition.

The envelope held a letter.

She pulled the paper out and as she did something fell out. She bent to pick it up and stood to see what it was.

It was a ring.

The circular object was beautiful; the stones glinted in the sun light. It was simple but exquisite she thought. She held the ring out to her patient to hold it. She explained to him the art of balloon messaging.

And then suggested she would read the letter out loud.

He didn't respond but sat back down, his back leaning against the tree he had just climbed. She took a seat next to him and cleared her throat.

"My Love" she said…

_**My Love,**_

_**It has been six very long years since you left our lives.**_

_**It has not been easy; you are still very much missed… My brother has kindly pointed out that you wouldn't want me to grieve forever and that I should enjoy life, which was your wish for all of us. I have decided to try and am taking it one step at a time. **_

_**It's so hard my Love…**_

_**But I promised my brother I would try, I promise to you now I will try to move on.**_

_**I will try to live life but it will never be the same without you.**_

_**I love you, I miss you and that I cannot change, I cannot move on from that.**_

_**Would you hate me for finding someone else? Off course you wouldn't, I know that but I feel as if I were cheating on you, you know?**_

_**You must think me silly.**_

_**I'm sorry my Love, I have broken our engagement, but I hope you understand from your place in heaven and I can imagine you shaking your head as to why I have taken so long.**_

_**I love you, always and forever.**_

The letter wasn't signed; it didn't mention any names but Lysa felt as if she had broken into someone's diary. The letter was so private…

With tears in her eyes she turned to her patient and gasped in surprise.

He was holding on to his heart as if in pain, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Ginny" he whispered brokenly "Ginny…"

It was as if random pieces clicked together in her head.

Her patient had been in medical care for six years, jumping from place to place. He was unknown, no records, _nothing_ that said who he was and where he came from. Again that thought went through her head. _Coincidences do not exist_.

Was he meant to find out this way?

That someone he loved so dearly thought he was dead? But was telling him she was trying to move on? No, not if he still lives! She turned over the envelope scanned the paper trying to find a return address, there was none…

"Is, was Ginny your fiancée?" she asked him. "Could she have written this to you?"

He gave her a broken look and showed her the ring.

"I gave this to her" he whispered.

Lysa took it from him and scanned the ring.

_**I love you, always and forever**_

No names.

"Do you want to find her? Your family?" Lysa had to know if this was really happening, her patient felt a connection to this letter she realised. Perhaps he was connected to this letter, but there was no way to prove it. She doubted she would be able to find the author of this letter anyway, but she could try if it meant her patient would heal.

"Please" he moaned and then like the day before he fainted.

.

_**4 years later**_

"Are you ready?" Hermione asked her.

Ginny turned to her sister in law with a sad smile.

"Yes"

The red head turned back to her mirror for a moment observing herself wearing the most beautiful dress she had ever worn in her life. Her hands moved to her belly that had gradually begun to swell, nearly unnoticeable unless you knew what you were looking for.

"I'm ready"

She was getting married today.

Dropping the Weasley name she would soon be known as a Longbottom and Neville would be standing at her side. And in a couple of months she would be a mother.

So much had happened…

Harry had been missing for 10 years now…

He would have been 27 now she realised.

This could have been their wedding, their child. But it wasn't, and never would be.

Because Harry was in heaven

With his parents and Sirius, where he was happy

She would be happy

One day

She would be happy


End file.
